NOTES OF JULY 14, 2014 RYE BOARD OF SELECTMEN MEETING

Final Revision B – Provided by the Rye Civic League

Present: Selectmen Mills. Musselman and Jenness. Also present: Town Finance Director Cyndi Gillespie, Fire Chief Skip Sullivan, Police Chief Kevin Walsh, Public Works Director Dennis McCarthy, Building Inspector Peter Rowell, Town Clerk Beth Yeaton (left after records retention discussion). Not present: Town Administrator Michael Magnant.

Persons present from the public included Lori Carbajal, Peter Crawford, Victor Azzi, Steven Borne, Patty Weathersby, Larry Rocha.

Editor’s note: For ease in finding particular sections using the archived video and audio on the Town website, the elapsed time is indicated. Use the slider and the elapsed time indicated at the bottom of the video window to fast forward to the desired section. Videos on the Town website may currently be accessed at www.town.rye.nh.us by clicking on “Town Hall Streaming” at the bottom left of the screen. Follow the link for “Town Hall Live Streaming,” then find the meeting by date under “Previous.”

The video starts at 6:37:32 (0:00 elapsed)

Summary

1. Records retention policy approved. It appears that documents have been retained for longer than necessary and that there will be a lot of shredding in the first year.

2. Decision on permit for yoga on the beach deferred as applicant has State permit in hand for Jenness Beach.

3. Repairs to Neptune Rd. following Rye Water District water main replacement discussed. Paving of several dirt roads in the area is deferred due to the high cost and need to repave existing paved roads first.

4. Signs will be posted near Parsons Creek warning of high bacteria levels at low tide.

5. Decision on “no parking" areas near driveways deferred pending comment from consultant performing parking assessment. There are 29 such driveways, the policy needs to be consistent, and there is a question as to whether a 20 foot no parking area is needed, Selectman Musselman said.

Announcements, Sanders Poynt trial continuance (0:33 elapsed)

Selectman Mills announced that the Sanders Poynt trial had been continued and said that he had been subpoenaed. Selectman Musselman expressed surprise, requested a copy of a document, and indicated that he had not been subpoenaed.

Consent Agenda (Pay-as-you-throw and Granite State Wheelman) (1:58 elapsed)

These two items were unanimously approved.

Minutes (2:27 elapsed)

The minutes of the June 23, 2014 meeting were unanimously approved with multiple changes. The minutes of the non-public meeting of the same day were unanimously approved without changes.

Records retention (6:51 elapsed)

Item VIII.B from old business was taken out of order. Town Finance Director Cyndi explained that she and Town Clerk Beth Yeaton were on the Records Retention Committee. Joanne Drewniak is the System Manager, Ms. Gillespie explained. Editor’s note: Ms. Drewniak works in the assessor’s office. The records are being purged, inventoried and indexed, Ms. Gillespie said. Ms. Gillespie explained that the policy is based on the RSAs. They are looking at setting up scanning.

Ms. Yeaton explained that there were some gray areas not addressed by the RSAs. The retention period for motor vehicle title applications has been reduced due to the new requirements being shortened. More is available online now, she said.

Ms. Gillespie reported that Finance has been saving records for twice the required period.

Selectman Musselman asked whether old records would be discarded annually. Ms. Gillespie explained that there is a software system and that Joanne assigns box numbers before items are placed in the archives. The computer will report when particular boxes are eligible to be discarded.

Ms. Gillespie stated that shredding can be done on premises by a contractor who will use an industrial shredder and haul the waste off. This will need to be budgeted. The amount will drop in future years. Editor’s note: This is apparently because of records having been retained significantly longer than necessary in the past. Apparently these will be shredded in the first year of the program.

Ms. Gillespie stated that only the administrative function of the Town Hall was part of this policy.

The motion to approve the policy was adopted unanimously.

Crystal Germain wedding on the beach (16:38 elapsed)

The prospective bridge and groom were both present. The wedding will be a Saturday during June 2015, with 60-70 cars to be parked. The wedding will be at Bass Beach. There was discussion about the tide and whether there would be alcohol. Ms. Germain responded that only the wedding would be on the beach, with the reception taking place elsewhere.

Fire Chief Sullivan suggested that St. Theresa’s parking lot, a quarter of a mile away, could provide parking. Selectman Mills disagreed, cautioning the bride and groom to ignore the Fire Chief if they want to have a happy life.

The motion to approve the wedding for June 20, 2015, subject to an acceptable parking plan being worked out with the Police Chief, carried unanimously.

Beach permit application for Ericka Dufton Yoga (21:55 elapsed)

Police Chief Walsh announced that the applicant has a Jenness Beach permit from the State, but wanted to ensure that she is covered. He reported that “Magnolia” would be requesting an increase in her hours. Editor’s note: This is an apparent reference to the permit for Namaste Yoga, from Magnolia Barrett, approved at the June 23, 2014 meeting.

The applicant reported that the State had limited her to 25 participants, and prior to 9:00 a.m.

The conclusion was that the applicant would be better off at Jenness Beach. Selectman Musselman stated that, if there was problem, she could apply to the Selectmen, which would require only two weeks notice.

Neptune Dr. road repairs following water main project disruption (28:38 elapsed)

Public Works Director Dennis McCarthy explained the disruption to the road resulting from the water main project in the area. Initially, representatives from the Rye Water District had indicated to him that he would need to deal with the contractor. He told the Water District that he was not going to do so, and that they needed to resolve the problem. The problem is that everyone thinks that Public Works did the work.

Patty Weathersby, 26 Neptune Dr. provided further details. She reported that Neptune Dr. was only paved to the first driveway. The rest is all dirt. There are several such roads in the neighborhood. These are many of the last unpaved roads in Rye. She would like to see a multiple year plan for all of these to be paved. Mr. McCarthy stated that they needed to repave the roads that are already paved prior to paving new roads. Selectman Mills stated that this would require the installation of a base, and would be expensive. Mr. McCarthy suggested annual graveling of the roads.

There was discussion about the contractor’s bond and the lack of “push” from the Rye Water District to make them clean up the problem. Selectman Mills stated that the whole project had been a nightmare.

That led to discussion by Selectman Musselman about new equipment that is available and may be used to evaluate, in an automated fashion, the roads. Eliot, Maine spent $50,000 on such an evaluation. Dover and Somersworth are considering it, he said. He stated that many communities are experiencing political problems deciding which road to pave next.

Recycling Building, siding vs. painting and Recycling Center fence (43:24 elapsed)

Mr. McCarthy explained that the building is board and batten construction. They were going to repaint it, but Norm Yeaton suggested vinyl siding would be better. Mr. McCarthy explained that the $5000 that had been budgeted for painting could be used to start the siding.

That led to a discussion about fencing the Recycling Center. Mr. McCarthy stated that this had not been started, but they will be moving forward this year.

Capital Asset Control procedure (46:08 elapsed)

Ms. Gillespie explained that the CIP Committee felt that the $10,000 threshold for capitalizing and depreciating an asset was not high enough. The suggestion has been to increase it to $15,000 to $20,000. She surveyed other towns but only got two responses. There is a $5000 threshold when federal funds are used. In response to a question from Selectman Musselman, Ms. Gillespie stated that there is not an impact on the financial results from the decision.

There was then discussion about the useful lives of various assets.

The document was approved.

Beach Sampling, Parsons Creek (34:33 elapsed)

Selectman Musselman stated that the data related Parsons Creek, also known as “Stinky Creek” had been watched for the last year or so. Quite a bit of sampling and analysis has been done. There was then discussion about the samples at low vs. high tide. Only the former indicate a problem, he said. The green algae growing on rocks indicate that nutrients are present. He suggested that there be publicity regarding the issue as they do not want children swimming in the area at lot tide.

Steven Borne, 431 Wallis Rd. stated that kids go crabbing at low tide.

Selectman Jenness referred to problems outside of Peteys. She suggested signs there as well.

Victor Azzi, Old Ocean Blvd., asked whether the measurements had been taken at multiple locations. That led to disagreement between Selectman Musselamn and Building Inspector Peter Rowell as to the location of problems.

Selectman Musselman stated that the water north of Marsh Rd. has had consistently high bacteria levels. Dogs had also reacted near Wallis Sands. Editor’s note: This is an apparent reference to septic sniffing dogs that the town had brought in within the past year or so.

Mr. Azzi asked whether reports were available. Selectman Musselman stated that they were, and were available from Mr. Rowell. Ms. Gillespie reported that Janice Ireland, the Selectmen’s Assistant, had the reports.

Request for a crosswalk from the Dunes (70:44 elapsed)

Police Chief Walsh indicated that this crosswalk would be for the Dunes Motel. This would mean two crosswalks within 10 feet. There is access for motel patrons to walk up to the other crosswalk, he said.

Selectman Mills suggested that the Dunes, Summer Sessions and the parking lot should pay for a special police officer to direct traffic on weekends. It’s crazy. Chief Walsh agreed that it was very congested.

The motion to deny the request for a crosswalk carried unanimously.

Little League Signs (75:13 elapsed)

There was discussion about whether the sign should go on Woodland Rd. or Mill Rd. South Rd. has more traffic than Mill Rd., Mr. McCarthy said. He asked how many signs there would be. He suggested that the existing signs be retained and updated. The matter was tabled.

Question about “no parking” areas adjacent to driveways (76:39 elapsed)

Selectman Mills stated that he would be going to Mr. Riley’s house for supper. He stated that Mr. Riley would be asking about “no parking boxes.”

Chief Walsh stated that he had sent a memo to the Board explaining this.

Selectman Musselman stated that Chief Walsh had made up a map showing 29 locations where there are similar problems. If one is approved, there would be issues relating to the others, he said. A couple have wide curb cuts and could possibly be excluded. There’s an issue as to whether 20 feet is the appropriate engineering criteria. He suggested that the map be referred to the engineers looking at parking issues and ask them whether 20 feet more than what is needed. Prior to the approval of one there should be walks to look at all 29. He agreed with Selectman Mills that it is a safety issue. A lot of parking would be lost as there are many locations. The people are not going to stop coming to the beach, they will park elsewhere, he said.

Selectman Jenness indicated that she agreed. Selectman Mills interrupted, saying that they were just “kicking the can down the road” and they both knew it. They had done the site walk in January, he said. Editor’s note: At least one of those site walks related to Ocean Blvd. That appears to be where many of the issues are. It is unclear whether all 29 locations are on Ocean Blvd., or only some of them.

Selectman Musselman stated that they had only seen two. If they provide “no parking” areas for those they will have to do it for the others, he said.

Selectman Mills disagreed that it was as many as 29. If it’s 10 or 12 they should provide areas for them.

Selectman Mills tried to move forward to the next issue, saying there were two votes for no. Selectman Musselman disagreed, but acknowledged that nothing could happen this summer.

Permit application for soliciting (81:31 elapsed)

Selectman Mills brought up this topic. There was confusion as to whether Selectmen Jenness had seen the applicable document. Selectman Musselman indicated that it was a non-profit raising funds to protect New Hampshire lakes. There was discussion regarding the dates and whether one of the documents had been revised to correct an erroneous date.

Grant for new ladder truck turned down (83:03 elapsed)

Fire Chief Sullivan noted that the Assistance to Firefighters grant had been turned down by the Federal Government. He referred to $15,000 and a warrant article. Editor’s note: It appears that this was a reference to 2014 Warrant Article 18, which provided a five percent match for a $300,000 ladder truck, with the rest to be paid for by a grant. That Warrant Article passed 1068-578.

Selectman Mills asked whether Chief Sullivan would be resigning as Forest Fire Warden concurrently with his resignation as Fire Chief, effective in September. Chief Sullivan quipped that he could “still wear the bear suit.” Chief Sullivan stated that the State would be notified.

It was then clarified that this related to the ladder truck.

Non-public session on personnel (85:01 elapsed)

After voting to adjourn, the Selectmen realized that there was a non-public session scheduled and voted to go into non-public session.